Top 3 Lessons Learned Participating in a Dubsmash Challenge

It’s all fun and games… until you learn something.

While participating in a month-long Dubsmash Challenge certainly is a great deal of fun, there are also lessons to be learned about social media and video marketing. In this YouTube video, I briefly cover my top 3 lessons learned and also share a link to the entire compilation of 29 Dubsmash videos.

How It Started

It all started in a Facebook group hosted by Vanessa Raphael Michael and Tobia Michael. The challenge was to produce one Dubsmash video per day starting Monday, November 30th, and running through December. We used the following hashtags to keep track of one another’s posts: #videopreneurs and #DubsmashChallenge (as well as any others the participants chose to use). We posted them in several social media forums such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ideally, the posts were to be made to the business pages/accounts.

Participation

Getting a fair number of people to participate in a video challenge can be a challenge in and of itself. Creating videos is very intimidating and participating in a challenge for a whole month requires some serious commitment. If you are thinking of hosting a challenge, make sure that people are familiar with any apps or other software that might be necessary to participate.

If you’re interested in seeing videos from other participants in this particular challenge, just search the social media platforms for both hashtags that were required (#videopreneurs & #DubsmashChallenge). There were some amazing Dubs, so you definitely will want to check that out.

Top 3 Lessons Learned

#1: People Don’t Give a Shit About Your Hair and Makeup.

#2: Video Traction is HUGE.

#3: It’s Not About Money.

#1: People Don’t Give a Shit About Your Hair and Makeup.

Unless your business is focused on fashion and style, people really aren’t focused on your hair and makeup. Now, obviously I’m not advocating for creating videos whilst sporting a “bed head” and smeared makeup leftover from the day before. But, what I am saying is that what you have to say is far more important than how your look.

Don’t let certain things hinder you from getting in front of the camera. We can all be our own worst critics. Just remember that WHAT you have to say is far more important than anything else.

People will be paying attention to your body language and facial expressions. If you are engaging and enthusiastic, your audience will be as well. Those who seem to be more interested in how you look than what you have to say are NOT your target audience. Ignore them and move on.

TIP: Tools, location, lighting, and attire.

There are many videos out there on tools to use to create videos. The best tip is to start with what you have, even if it’s just your cell phone or a Web cam. You can always purchase equipment as you become more advanced in your video production, but some amazing videos can be created by just the basics.

There are many videos out there that give amazing tips about locations for videos and lighting. Simple backgrounds that are not too distracting are a great start. Just be aware of what is in the background that will be captured in your videos. There are also many great tips about lighting and lighting equipment. Again, the very basics of shooting outdoors or using natural lighting are great for creating videos.

While people don’t care about what you’re wearing, in general, there are some great videos that discuss attire. Busy patterns can be very distracting, as well as too much jewelry. Please be cognizant of any clothing that is vulgar or offensive. Also note that some people are more conservative than others and that way too much cleavage or men not wearing a shirt can be off-putting.

Speak to what you’re passionate about in a way that makes you feel comfortable because you will never please 100% of the people 100% of the time, and that’s 100% okay.

#2 Video Traction is HUGE.

Social media continues to grow and expand. The amount of information put in front of us every single day just continues to explode. We are bombarded from many different platforms and it becomes overwhelming to try to consume it all.

The next time you are on a social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. pay attention to what catches your attention first. Is it a text post, a picture, or a video? Chances are you find yourself more drawn to photographs and, even more so, videos.

This picture is from my Facebook business page. It is quite obvious that the reach in December was massively greater than the reach I had in November. November was filled with text posts, picture posts, and even video links. But, posting a daily video in my feed throughout December boosted my reach tremendously.

TIP 1: Use hashtags! Make sure to add in all pertinent hashtags because many people use those to search for relevant content.

TIP 2: Facebook does have some interesting algorithms, which means that not every follower sees every post every time. The more activity on your page, the more Facebook shares your posts. It’s not enough to post once in while. It’s not even enough to post once a day. Many social-media marketing gurus suggest that three to four times a day is optimal. My suggestion is to be sure that you’re adding more videos into the mix.

Posting videos directly to Facebook is more powerful than posting links to videos. Within the settings, you’re also able to select the feature that allows your videos to automatically play consecutively. What happens then is each time your video ends, another one automatically plays, which allows you to keep your audience engaged even longer.

#3: It’s Not About the Money.

If you are expecting an immediate monetary return for the time, effort, and possibly money spent on creating video marketing, you will be sorely disappointed. Please look at video marketing as an investment similar to business cards or a website. While the hope is to draw in customers or clients, the monetary return will not be immediate.

Even when creating videos for something like a paid webinar or online classes, the monetary return will not be immediate. There will be a process in getting the program launched, people signed up, and eventually payments made by participants.

It’s a fair guess that you’ve heard the statement, “People like to work with people they know, like, and trust.” Providing videos is a great opportunity for potential clients to get to know who you are, what you represent, and how well you know the industry in which you are working. This breaks barriers for them to then work with you and, therefore, give you an opportunity to build on the “trust” piece of the relationship. Building a community of people who know, like, and trust you is truly invaluable.

BONUS TIPS

BONUS TIP 1: While creating Dubsmash videos I found myself lacking in the creativity department. I think of myself a bit more of a numbers person than creative arts. In order to come up with ideas, I watched what other people were doing.

I don’t think there’s any shame in checking out “the competition.” You should never copy someone exactly, but in a sense it’s like being part of a brainstorming session. It’s a great way to get ideas and spark creativity to design your own projects, services, designs, etc.

BONUS TIP 2: There were some really great Dubsmashes that used more apps than just Dubsmash. One woman created a video with several videos being played at once. Others were combining two or more videos to create one longer video. Below are links to two apps that I found useful and fun to use.

PicPlayPost: Video app allowing you to add several videos to one frame.

SUMMARY

To watch the full chronological compilation of 29 Dubsmash videos, click here.

Don’t wait until everything is 100% perfect. You’ll never create a single video. It’s important to just get started, practice, and have some fun. Wishing you all the best on your social media video marketing.